School Judgement Vol. 1

Gr 7 Up—To fight crime in schools, the government creates the School Judgment System, which allows students to work as attorneys to defend and prosecute cases in classroom arbitration sessions. The concept is cute, funny, and fairly ridiculous. Kid lawyers transfer in and out of schools to work on cases such as the "Suzuki Murder and Dismemberment Case," in which a boy named Tento is accused of killing a fish that his class had been raising. These adorable children use ronpa (arguments) to fight their cases with all the legal gravitas of Clarence Darrow in Inherit the Wind, posing dramatically with fingers pointed in the air when they feel victorious or when they want to make an objection. The judges are preschoolers who look much older than their years. Prosecutor Pine Hanzuki and defense attorney Abaku Inugami go head-to-head in several cases that unfold very intensely, with lots of twists and turns. Most of Obata's artwork is in the traditional manga style, but some panels are illustrated in much greater detail for effect.